Howard County should consider charging a stormwater utility fee to pay for stream and waterway restoration, a county environmental commission said.
“There is a lot responsibility these days to manage stormwater, because it is a huge pollutant. But that responsibility needs to be funded,” said Jim Caldwell, a member of Howard?s Commission on the Environment and Sustainability.
In its draft report to County Executive Ken Ulman, the group recommended the creation of the utility to have a dedicated fund for stormwater management projects.
The administration would determine the amount of the fee and who gets charged if the recommendation is enacted, Caldwell said.
Fees should be based onthe amount of impervious surfaces, such as parking lots, and adjusted for residential, commercial and retail properties, according to the report obtained by The Examiner.
Montgomery County was the first in the state to charge a stormwater fee, said Caldwell, who is the former Director of Montgomery?s Department of Environmental Protection. Homeowners pay an average fee while businesses? fees are calculated based on the square footage of impervious surface.
Funding for stormwater management projects, such as maintaining stormwater ponds or stream restoration, usually come out of the general fund, and tends to get axed in favor of more high profile projects, Caldwell said.
“And people seem to be more willing to fund this kind of program if they know its dedicated funding that can?t be drawn off to some other project,” he said.
Other counties have considered it, such as Anne Arundel, but few have adopted it. It?s often hard to drum up support for assessing fees on consumers, said Brad Heavner, state director for advocacy group Environment Maryland.
A recently passed state law requires developers to do more to prevent stormwater runoff, but that only impacts new development, Heavner said. Retrofitting older developments with proper stormwater management features is expensive, he said.
The commission recognized the need for the community outreach before a utility is implemented and recommended some of the funds be used for an education campaign to explain the extent of the damage and cost to the county.
